Dane County citizens are smart, hardworking, and committed to having better communities.  The better information they can have about their communities' future, the better choices they'll make. Kathleen Falk Dane County Executive   Putting more information in the hands of local governments and communities can only lead to the better use of resources and results that truly matter to Americans.  That is what reinventing government is all about. Al Gore, Vice-President

When Vice President Al Gore--on "reinventing" government--said, "Putting more information in the hands of local governments and communities can only lead to the better use of resources..." Dane County took it to heart. With its innovative strategy for managing growth as outlined in the strategic plan, Design Dane!, the county is one of six sites in the nation that has been awarded a Community Demonstration Project grant. These grants will show how information technologies such as the Internet and geographic information systems (GIS) help support decisions that lead to "livable communities." The focal points of the demonstration project are the Town and City of Verona, located southwest of Madison in central Dane County. Verona faces community development issues typical of the county and the nation: how to accommodate growth while preserving its historical agricultural character and small-town quality of life. Verona is a logical choice for the pilot project because citizens have actively worked for some time with community leaders and elected officials on growth issues.  The goal of the project is to involve citizens in a community-oriented process of evaluating land use choices. Understanding, visualizing and predicting the consequences of land use alternatives will lead to better decisions that can be embraced by the entire community. Local, county, and federal staff, as well as elected officials, have joined University of Wisconsin researchers in a cooperative effort. Digital Tools Map the Way The project will use geographic information about Dane County that has already been gathered. A digital landscape library is organized in theme layers such as property ownership, wetlands, transportation, soils and zoning. These themes can be combined, modeled and analyzed to depict a visual history of growth: how much land is being used and for what purposes?  The first task is to use the data to present Verona citizens with an accurate and easy-to-understand view of the changes that have taken place. The UW-Madison Land Information & Computer Graphics Facility (LICGF) has mapped 30-year growth patterns throughout the Town of Verona and all of Dane County. The maps clearly depicts a trend in which a growing population is being dispersed in decreasing densities. This dispersed growth means that larger land areas are used by fewer people.

Tools for the Future

Once Verona citizens have a clear picture of "where they stand," our task is to provide them with a way to systematically evaluate growth alternatives, thereby enabling them to contribute to the land use planning dialog.  A "planning toolkit" developed by LICGF is one solution.  The toolkit, which essentially embodies a process called Planning Analyst, offers software modules that support land use allocation, impact assessment and visualization.  Problem areas can be examined in a three-dimensional detail and future growth scenarios can be plotted.  Our hope is that, with minimal training, citizens can create and evaluate their own alternative scenarios.  The toolkit modules have been tested with 15 groups, but are still evolving and being refined.  Presently, we are introducing Verona participants to the various components in Planning Analyst.  In Spring 2000, we intend to work with the citizens to develop their own land use plan.

The last phase in the demonstration project is to make all relevant maps and visualization tools available in a Web-based environment.  We intend to provide Internet access to maps and various data about Verona and the county.

Project Partners

The project is a team effort.  Participants include:  University of Wisconsin Land Information and Computer Graphics Facility in conjunction with the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Soil Science, and Institute for Environmental Studies; Dane County Department of Planning and Development and Land Information Office; Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC).